Girl Guides group for teenage mothers

The Girl Guides have set up its first Guide group for teenage mothers.

The Girl Guides, as they appeared at their foundation in 1910Photo: PA

By Julie Henry

9:00PM BST 29 Aug 2009

With their smart uniforms and badges for camping and cooking, the Girl Guides once were the epitome of youthful innocence. But times have changed and the movement has now set up its first Guide group for teenage mothers.

The unit, open to girls aged 14 to 24, is in the former mill town of Nelson, in Lancashire, a county with one of the highest underage pregnancy rates in the country.

Its establishment typifies the new mission of the movement, which launching its centenary celebrations.

It aims to dispel the image of Guiding as a pastime for middle-class girls and extend its reach to deprived areas.

Nelson, near Burnley, fits the bill. Like many Lancashire towns which have lost their industry, it suffers from high rates of unemployment. Pockets of severe deprivation and a lack of expectation have given rise to low exam results and high rates of underage pregnancy.

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Although teenage pregnancy rates in the local area are falling, they are still significantly higher than the national average at 56 per 1,000 females aged 15 to 17.

With no history of Guiding in the town, Big Lottery funding paid for a development worker to set up the group which is now run by volunteers.

In an interview to mark the 100th anniversary of the movement, Liz Burnley, the chief guide, said: "The young mums are a group of girls who have never bumped in to Guiding at all. We could really offer something to them.

"They have issues about low-self esteem and about opportunities. A number of the young women had never even ridden a bike before."

A creche provided by the local Sure Start Children's Centre means the 10 members can take part in a range of Guiding activities.

A group of young mothers recently went caving and canoeing, while first aid courses have gained them recognised qualifications.

The group, which meets for two hours a week in the afternoon, also organises activities with their children, including picnics and trips to the seaside.

Money for activities is raised by selling crafts, such as greeting cards, made by the Guides.

"Our reach is so important," said Mrs Burnley. "We need to get to girls who frankly we would make a great difference to because they have never had the chance to get away from the pressures that are out there.

"The feedback from the group has been really positive. I was speaking to one girl after they had been potholing.

"She said what she had learned from the activity was that it was OK to trust others. For her, it was about a very physical thing about trust. She had never trusted other people and always been wary."

One of the appeals of the Guides, which has half a million members, is its girls-only policy.

According to the chief guide, youngsters can escape from the pressure to grow up too soon, cited by members as a major cause of anxiety.

Recent research carried out by the organisation found that even Brownies aged 10 expressed dissatisfaction with their bodies and associated images of very slim and pretty people with being happy.

"Girls are very concerned about how they look and how people respond to them," said Mrs Burnley.

"Girls say that the images out there are of size zero, very slim, very attractive airbrushed women and they are seen by youngsters as how it should be."

The organisation has countered suggestions that its ban on boys is old-fashioned. Members have consistently rated the girls-only environment as crucial.

This, coupled with the emphasis on outdoor activities, acts as a foil to the modern obsession with appearance, according to Mrs Burnley.

"Because we are girls-only, there is no question about who takes leadership roles. It is girls who make the decision," she added.

"They are the ones planning activities, running the engineering services at a camp. It is quite unusual to get that elsewhere particularly as education trends have change.

"People might say it's old-fashioned but actually the proof is that we have 50,000 girls on the waiting list."